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Topic Review (Newest First)

06-28-2010 03:51 PM

QuickMick

one scenario (a pretty long shot depending on local) = the fear of someone taking something. the other scenario = a love of the water, a million smiles and some of the best commradarie (sp?) you will find anywhere on earth.... easy trade for me

New member here and currently in the process of hunting down my first vessel. After reading this thread, I can only ask myself if wanting to spend the last half of my life aboard, out and about; is it worth it? On the other hand, thievery can happen anywhere (home, car, mugged). I'm trying hard to not make this topic a black cloud that looms over me which could deter me from my current plans.

Living scared ain't living.
It's just dying slowly, fearfully.
I don't do fear.

Precisely. I think of it as no different than an automobile or a house. You can secure it all you want, but if they want something they're going to get it and cause more damage getting to it.

Love that t-shirt saying (need to find it and get it). As excited as I am to off-load most of what I have the remaining time at sea, I think I should at least first start by accompanying someone for a length of time. For all I know, I may not have a sea leg to stand on. haha And the urge to leave the landlocked state of WI (especially come winter) is quite strong.

Before I totally veer off topic (which I have a tendancy to do) I'm going to stop it at that and say thank you Eryka. Reading your comment hightened the growing flame.

Heck I have a Mazda Miata (hence my online moniker) for over 10 years now and have never locked the doors. I keep nothing of value in sight and have never had an issue, even parked in Manhattan! I often leave the glove box open and the console open so they can see there is nothing of value in them. I figure if they want something they will just cut the top and grab it. The stereo looks basically stock, though it is decidedly not and every thing else looks low value. I had a VW that had a nice stereo, and was always waxed to the 9th degree, and it was broken into 4 times. So a lot of it has to do with appearances. Perhaps you should not put that extra coat of varnish on, don't polish the winches and make the boat look as inconspicuous as possible. (at least that is going to be my excuse!) I was even thinking that you could put stealth displays into old instruments to make them look outdated, but function like new. Perhaps build a laptop display into an old loran unit, or mount a computer screen into an old tv?

Where I live, although I am not yet a cruiser, I work with a lot of customers and their PCs. You all have some great ideas for how to hide the laptop, but I've not seen anyone mention data redundancy yet.

I'd recommend getting a decent USB HDD capable of holding a few backups of the system. Back up regularly and hide both when you're away. Of course it is a problem if the laptop ever gets stolen, but lets face it, you're more likely to have a hard drive or other failure with the laptop itself over time. Just as others have mentioned, it is the data that matters - make a spare copy in case you find yourself in a pinch.

Go for it n9!! There's a T-shirt I've seen that says something like "you go sailing, you could get hit by a storm and die; you could capsize and die; you could fall off the boat and get eaten by a shark. ... You stay home and you could fall off the sofa and die" or something like that. Your point is exactly like that - things can happen anywhere. I'd argue that with proper planning and attention, this life isn't vastly riskier than many other choices, and the rewards are incomparable.

Would you rather live your life or live your fears?

I'd point out that you can choose where you sail, and by doing so, eliminate much of the risk of theft... some areas are safer than others...

Go for it n9!! There's a T-shirt I've seen that says something like "you go sailing, you could get hit by a storm and die; you could capsize and die; you could fall off the boat and get eaten by a shark. ... You stay home and you could fall off the sofa and die" or something like that. Your point is exactly like that - things can happen anywhere. I'd argue that with proper planning and attention, this life isn't vastly riskier than many other choices, and the rewards are incomparable.

Would you rather live your life or live your fears?

Precisely. I think of it as no different than an automobile or a house. You can secure it all you want, but if they want something they're going to get it and cause more damage getting to it.

Love that t-shirt saying (need to find it and get it). As excited as I am to off-load most of what I have the remaining time at sea, I think I should at least first start by accompanying someone for a length of time. For all I know, I may not have a sea leg to stand on. haha And the urge to leave the landlocked state of WI (especially come winter) is quite strong.

Before I totally veer off topic (which I have a tendancy to do) I'm going to stop it at that and say thank you Eryka. Reading your comment hightened the growing flame.

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